A nice night…

Quite a performance by Derek Lowe tonight…how often do you see six perfect innings twice in the same homestand???

More than anything, I’m sure everyone was happy to see Andruw come through the way he did. It’s a start, but I think I was more excited about the way he broke up the double play and the reaction the crowd gave him when he came off the field. Please keep that coming…it goes a long way and there’s no one out there who knows how disappointing the season has been more than Andruw. But every bit of support can hopefully help him turn the season around.

On the team plane, our players, coaches, and Dodger-affiliated media do a variety of things to occupy our time. On the most recent road trip, I went down the lone center aisle of our Delta Air Lines 737-800 team charter to gauge what exactly it is we do when flying. Our broadcasters are a hard-working group and a lot of them do research on the upcoming opposing team. They read statistics, study the opposing team’s media guide, and garner information from other reference sources. Our coaches generally do their homework on the opposing team as well – they read scouting reports, look at video, scour in-depth statistics, and talk with each other about strategy. Their job of course, is to develop a game plan to help Joe Torre put our players in the best situation to succeed. The players are a mixed group. Some read, some watch movies or television shows on their DVD players or laptops, some sleep, some play cards, and a good number eat from our wide-variety catered menu.

In general, the longer flights tend to illicit more naps and more food consumption. There are about 65 people in our traveling party, which usually includes: players; coaches; on-field support staff; trainers; broadcasters; a PR representative, Dodger-affiliated media support staff; an interpreter; a traveling secretary; a video coordinator; baseball operations executives like our General Manager Ned Colletti or our Assistant General Manager Kim Ng; and perhaps some immediate family members. By the end of the season, we will have spent over 100 hours in the air, spread out over 33 flights, and covering more than 34,000 miles. Throw in our mid-spring trip to China and that’s a lot of time in the air in seven months.

I posted only maybe once or twice this whole series because I was holding my breath for us to win the 4th series in a row : )
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plus there was a lot of debate & I just didn’t want to get in the middle of all the guys and bring up girl talk… But I see some girls have joined in the forum & talked up how good the young players are… looks & career wise🙂
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Our boys in blue are on fire!! Goes well with this LA weather… Not everyone can have a good day but it’s the effort these young players (&vets as well) are putting in & I hope they know how much fan support they have…. : )
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I’m glad Mr. Torre has finally opened up his eyes a little bit, it’s unpredictable how he’s going to change the lineup and what direction these trade rumors are going to go but I’m glad a lot of us fans on here got to see the lineup we’ve been dying for… in the end nobody really knows the players, team, and staff better than themselves so we can b*tch complain and cry all we want but in the end Torre, Ned, McCourt, are going to do whatever they please…. Hope they know how much they affect us Dodger Fans..
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The only thing that frustrates me is some people talk all this crap about a player but as soon as he starts coming around again & doing welll all the hate goes away until the next time that player is slumping…. I just thought fans should be more on the unconditional support level…

Repost from the last thread: I didn’t think Josh would get a new thread up so fast. Not complainin’, Josh.
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dnelly, I’m glad you’re having a great time. You sure did see some great pitching performances!
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But how could you put on ANYTHING associated with the Yankees?! I don’t care if it’s a World Series ring or not. Growing up in the ’70s when the Giants were a consistent non-contender and we faced the Yankess and that hip-throwing S.O.B Reggie Jackson three times in the W. I hate the Yankees even more than I hate the Gnats. Please don’t ever let me hear about such blasphemies again.
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Dodgers are averaging 4.5 runs/game since Kemp became leadoff. 4.2 runs/game since Pierre went down (that counts the one-run game in which Repko led off).
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So glad we didn’t trade Matt Kemp for CC Sabathia. Supposedly Sabathia would lead us to the promised land this year. First of all, there’s a reasonable possibility that The Bison will be more valuable than CC over the next 2 1/2 months.
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More importantly, THIS fan is not looking for one World Series Championship, but a DYNASTY in which the Dodgers go to the World Series maybe five times over the next decade. I don’t want to throw that away for a one-time shot.
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As has been pointed out CC and Ben Sheets will be free agents after this year, and we should be players when that time comes.
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Meanwhile our pitching is still among the best in baseball. And that’s with Fat Penny and Schmidt rehabing and Kershaw lurking in the minors. We have enough pitching to take us all the way THIS YEAR.
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And if JoJo lets the best players play, we have enough hitting too.
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I remain concerned about shortstop because it’s a virtual sure thing that Nomar will break down and Berraza in the 8-hole is a pure waste. I would still love to acquire Jack Wilson — obviously not for Kemp (such a silly rumor) but maybe for somebody like Lucas May. That would give us major league insurance for Nomar and in the meantime we can dump both halves of Berraza.
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GO BLUE!!

Like any Dodgers fan, I too feel a bit of frustration with the offensive performance of Andruw Jones. But let’s keep something in mind…

For just 12 or so years in the league, Jones has had a very illustrious career. 10 Gold Gloves, 5-All Star appearances and just 3 seasons ago, he led the majors in HR’s and the NL in RBI’s.

His defense is what should be valued right now. It’s feast or famine for this offense right now, but the young guys are heating up (Loney, Ethier.) It’s only a matter of time before Jones heats up too and this ball club can be very scary.

Jones has played 5 games off the DL… Cut him some slack and be patient. You’ll love him by the end of the year.

Josh, it was indeed a nice night, and I agree with your comments, but don’t you think Matt Kemp deserves some accolades, too? Hitting a HR against a pitcher like Hudson when he’s on his game to breakup a scoreless dual is quite a feat in itself. Maybe I’m overly sensitive, but it seems like there is always praise for the veterans but not much effort to give the kids the credit they deserve.

Super 2 to 1 Victory by our Beloved Los Angeles Dodgers over the Atlanta Braves putting us in first place! Super Hero Gutsy Derek Lowe was in Super World Series Championship Form with 6 perfect innings and 7 & 2/3 innings of Brilliant Stuff! Derek, You are a Great Dodger And Leader! Amazing Super Hero and Kryptonite Buster Matt Kemp comes through with His Moon Shot Home Run always helping his Teammates and Fans! Matt, what a wonder you are! Super Hero Andruw Jones makes his Dodger presence felt with His Game Winning RBI. Way to go, Andruw! Super Heroes Jonathan Broxton and Takashi Saito couldn’t let Derek Lowe down and didn’t! You guys are something else! All of our Los Angeles Dodgers were Super Heros! Sing & Cheer All of Us Los Angeles Dodger Fans For The Absolute Super Best is yet to come as October Glory will reveal Our Beloved Los Angeles Dodgers as the World Series Champions! After all we want to see Super Hero Skipper Joe Torre win the World Series in the National League to Tie only Sparky Anderson and Toni LaRussa as the only Managers To Win the World Series in both the National and American leagues and of course see Our Very Own, The Indestructable,Invincible, Man Of Steel,Superman Himself, Jeff Kent get His World Series Ring With all his Teammates in this Majestic Year 2008 A.D.!

Mark Sweeney will start his rehab tomorrow. And Juan Pierre is said to be ahead of schedule with the MCL sprain in his left knee. He was supposed to miss four to six weeks, so I’m not exactly sure what ahead of schedule translates to.

that’s the LAST thing we need. sweeney and pierre creeping closer to returning.. NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Final weekend before the All Star break favors the Dodgers in the West. D-Backs go to 1st-place Philly. Gnats go to 1st-place Cubs. Rocks go to Shea. Dodgers stay home against Marlins. Pods don’t count.

As well as Andre and Matt are doing, I would say that everyone will have to earn his position. Homeruns speak. Mark Sweeney in his day was the best but I doubt he will ever be that good again. I’m not into Pierre bashing because everyone does it. Let’s see how he does when he’s off DL It’s good to be this deep I would think. Dy needs to be used more IMO.
A message to Amy…I saw Matt tonight and seemed to be accompanied by an attractive dark skinned young lady. Interesting. He is usually alone. I could not relay your message because of that.

MLK – I didn’t personally wear the ring. I just took a picture of my friend, jill, wearing the ring. I didn’t realize I had typed it that way until I just read it. He does work for the Gnats now, too. I did make a point of asking him what happened to Sanchez tonight. He just laughed. He was very nice to us, and he thought the A’s deal was stupid, but he said that’s what the A’s always do – train them and then trade them.
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BTW – jhall – how are the Indian Fans handling what happened to them? The A’s fans are furious as I had to sit by one that whole day. I kind of knew the Braves might win Tuesday because something had to go jill’s way – She was actually more upset about losing Gaudin – there’s rumors their ace duestrecher (sp?) is next.
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About tonight’s game – I had been cheering Andruw on the whole series, and I was really feeling bad for him and the booing (the braves fans were cheering him) so I made it a point to cheer him on instead. When he got that hit tonight and broke up that DP and the crowd erupted that was very cool – I just hope he keeps it up. Pierre was in the dugout this whole series and he wasn’t on crutches. I saw him up swinging the bat a few times, so it would appear that he is making good progress in his recovery.
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As far as the trade talks that have been happening on this board, it’s not just Matt that’s been talked about. Andre and James have also been brought up in the rumors, too. Most of this board are of the mindset that we need to stay with the kids (the core), and we need to stick to the idea of our young gun dynasty team, and not let outside readers* assume we want anything different (*meaning any persons within the Dodger organization or non-Dodger fans). I realize some of you have different opinions on this subject, but I just wanted to point out that these trade rumors don’t just center around Matt, but a few of our other young guns as well.
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Two more things – I know Dodgereric is in Tahoe, but I can’t believe he drove from the San Diego area to Tahoe. That is one long a**ed drive. Also, to my fellow northern Californians (jnv, NSB, etc) – I hope all is still okay up where you are. It was mentioned down here that the fires were just north of Sacramento.
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Sorry for the long post🙂

LOS ANGELES — Ethan Martin, the Dodgers’ first-round Draft pick last month, was at Dodger Stadium on Wednesday night in anticipation of his signing, which could come as early as Thursday.

Martin, a 19-year-old right-handed pitcher from Stephens County High School in Georgia, is in line to receive a bonus of around $1.7 million as the 15th overall pick.

Meanwhile, last year’s first-round pick (19th overall), Chris Withrow, is nursing a recurring sore right elbow. Club officials insist there is no structural damage; however he has not pitched in a game this year and there is no timetable on when he will.

Last month, Withrow apparently was close to being assigned to a Minor League roster, but suffered another setback. He currently is throwing at Class A Inland Empire, but it is not known when he will be game-ready and assigned to a Minor League roster.

After a series of injuries have sidetracked the careers of first-round pitchers Greg Miller and Scott Elbert, the club is being extra cautious bringing back Withrow. Miller continues to struggle at Triple-A, while Elbert is throwing hard again at Double-A.

The 19-year-old Withrow, who signed last year for a $1.35 million bonus, pitched only nine innings in six games last year.

Ken Gurnick is a reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.

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^ I know some ppl have been asking about Ethan Martin🙂

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Also, does Mr. Torre realise how well the team has been doing with Pierre and Sweeny on the D/L? Ha… I hope he does. I’m not a fan of Pierre but…. if he must be playing can’t he just be in a lower spot & not lead off? & SWEENEY. I am totally against him he can be my grandpa already.. JK. Had a good career now it’s time to move onto something he’s actually good at.. (like I always say).

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Of course the management team is always going to think of doing things the easy way.. big bucks for a big name to a big win.. which isn’t guaranteed bekus they are worn out & will run out of fuel eventually….but I hope they realise how far investing & being patient in the young core of this team can be… if these past games/series hasn’t been enough… actually if the careers of these rooks.. (Ethier, Kemp, Loney, etc…) hasn’t been enough to prove to the management then maybe we don’t deserve them. J/K.. I didn’t mean to say that but I hope the front office knows.. like us loyal fans do..

I would still love to acquire Jack Wilson — obviously not for Kemp (such a silly rumor) but maybe for somebody like Lucas May. That would give us major league insurance for Nomar and in the meantime we can dump both halves of Berraza.

They introduced Ethan Martin last night at the game. He was there with his entire family. They introduced him as being the 1st round draft pick so the occasional fan now knows who he is 🙂
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iheartaethier – Don’t worry too much about the negative talk. Many of us are just worried about Joe going back to his old ways once Sweeney and Pierre come back. Andre and Matt will suffer the most when Pierre returns, and look what’s happening to DY now I saw him once this whole series. He spent most of his time in the bullpen. As far as the boy talk, as long as it’s kept to a minimum and doesn’t take over the board, most of the guys on here don’t mind – scott seemed to have fun with it yesterday. I think as long as the guys know we know our baseball too, they are fine with minimal boy talk. So, keep posting – we want to know what your thinking, too. BTW – Andre is just awesome. He didn’t have A good game last night, but he had a good series. He was very upset with himself for missing that homerun by a few feet last night. However, after he got off the field, he went and sat by Pierre and talked to him for the rest of the inning – what a very cool guy 🙂

You know what I hate about the Dodgers? That they give me hope every year, then fail my expectations. I had all but given up on the Ds during their abysmal June; now they find themselves tied for 1st place. The worst part is, because they’re playing well, I begin to believe in them again…but in my mind I know they don’t have what it takes to go deep into the postseason, and I think they should focus on rebuilding for ’09/’10.

Is this what being a Dodger fan is all about? Having too much faith in too little team?

Nelly, Indians fans are understandably very disappointed with the performance thus far. However, they do have faith in their management and believe they will make the right decisions for the future of the team. Careful and well thought out moves and no knee jerk panic moves that rarely pay dividends and usually come back to haunt you. Much different from how we feel (justifiably so) about our management.

jhall – that’s good to hear about the fans out there. Jill was a little concerned about Grady, as was I, and then when found out what the A’s did, we kept thinking – what next? It’s just sad that we can’t rely on our management to do the right thing, and play who deserves to play all the time. That’s what makes these trade rumors so hard to read, even if they are just rumors. You really can’t rule any of them out based on what the management has done in the past.

What is this garbage trade rumor (in last night’s recap) about Lowe being traded for Renteria? You have got to be kidding!!!! Hey, let’s wait until we’re out of it and then trade him, but not for washed up SS has been’s!!

xoxorussell- thanks for the info. hey I wont give up. Like iheartethier said, cousin right? I’m sure he has lot of friends. I will keep the hope alive. Nothing is impossible to me! (but strictly not in stalker form. I am a lady)🙂
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I’m glad we are back to first. It was a great win. Lowe was back to his awesome self!!
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I will be at the game tonight and on Saturday xoxo- hint. I look forward to it!
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My Dodgers rock!!
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I will say it again. My my mind, the hating on Andruw isn’t strictly that he’s been struggling at the plate this season. It’s because he has openly spoke out about “not caring” about the fans. That is what has offended me most about Jones. That attitude along with his poor performance as a starter just makes things worse. His interview last night was a lot nicer. He actually praised the fans. I need to see more of that from him in order for him to my my friend!

A little bit about Matt’s at-bats this series – the poor guy must have the widest strike zone in the NL. He really didn’t catch a break on many of his AB’s, so I have A new outlook on why he may be swinging on pitches we know are too outside for him – his thinking has got to be; they are going to call it a strike anyway so I better swing. Some were his fault, but I could definitely understand his thinking on some, too.

Amy..the I don’t care” comment was quoted in an article by that creep TJ Siemers so don’t believe everything he writes. As per D Lowe, he does care, very much. The booing is despicable. Boo for the enemy, not for our guys. The young lady with Matt appeared to be a date. The body language did not indicate relative. The Dodgers are number one again. Go Dodgers.

amy – I hear you on the Andruw doesn’t care about the fans attitude. Many of us are upset about that too. However, Pierre kind of did a similar thing when he complained about his playing time. He wasn’t thinking about the team or the fans ethier (either). My thinking right now is that DY should be playing over both of them, but I am also realistic knowing our management. Ethier (either) way, Andre and Matt are both screwed when JP comes back, and DY even more so. The funny thing about spelling ethier instead of either, is that many have done the same thing. PierreEW did it last night – lol 🙂

If Pierre is put back right away into the lead off spot and LF and we happen to be in 1st playing well, then Torre and Pierre will both be boo-ed unmercifully if Matt or Andre are the ones sitting. Totally unacceptable.

Matt probably does suffer from a big strike zone from the umps. It could be the product of three things:
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1) He’s still a new player in the league.
2) He does swing at a lot of stuff outside the zone, especially down and away.
3) He too often shows his frustration with the umpires.
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As he gains more experience and stops going for that down and away stuff, the umpires will begin to respect his strike zone more. And although he may often be right about bad/unfair ball-strike calls he needs to work on hiding his opinion. Actually I think he has made some progress in this last area. Hopefully Mattingly will do something to help him from constantly biting at the low-and-away stuff.

this whole 4 man outfield situation is getting old. I love 3 of them and want them all to play. In my mind I haven’t figured out how it’s all gonna work out. I like them all to play. I guess that’s why God invented the backup. People need rest.
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you are right. It was a TJ article. But to me, i haven’t seen anything from Andruw that shows me differently. I will just give him a chance to prove that he supports LA fans.
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Matt will be alone again I’m sure. Thanks again xoxo.
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Yes Scott. Remind me please. Torre said that no matter what Andruw will be starting. Did he say the same for Pierre?
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And if he did, does it necessarily guarantee Pierre the lead off spot? could he possibly be bating lower in the order like before??

this is from an article on foxsports.com about the things we’ve learned from the 1st half of baseball:

Based on the pre-injury performance of first-year hire Andruw Jones (a .171 batting average with two homers and nine RBIs in 49 games), L.A. Dodgers GM Ned Colletti may be a long shot choice as Executive of the Year.
Ned is lurching toward a bit of redemption, however, thanks to the recent efforts of imported rookie Hiroki Kuroda and the (so far) refusal to part with top prospects in a trade that would swing the balance of (ahem) power in the already-winnable NL West.

true, while sabathia was crap against the red sox in the post season last year, who are we to say anything about being crappy? we’ve gone 20 years without winning jack squat. it could be said that we’re already loaded with good pitching, but are we really gonna say we couldn’t have used the services of CC sabathia? a rotation of sabathia, billingsley, lowe, kershaw, and penny/park would have been incredible. think about this: the combined OPS of our 3rd basemen this season is 720. that’s a shade over juan pierre’s career average of 718. so we’re basically getting juan pierre production from our 3rd base parade, which is among the worst in all of baseball. calling casey blake a “useless piece” is a huge stretch. statistically speaking, he’s having a better season than anybody on the dodgers with the exception of martin, ethier, and loney. needless to say, he would be an upgrade. as to the idea that his RBI total is so high because of the DH is ludacris. are we really gonna take away from a guy’s value because he hits guys in when they’re on base? on top of that, have you seen cleveland’s production from the DH spot? it’s vomit inducing. if Rosenthal was accurate in his report, we could have gotten all of these guys without sacrificing any of our “crown jewels” (kemp, Broxton, loney, Kershaw, billingsley, ethier, etc). we would have let sabathia sign with some other team and net 2 premium draft picks in addition to any compensatory picks we’ll get when lowe, nomar, furcal sign elsewhere. While we do give up some talent, we’re still in prime position to have dibs on the best talent of next year’s draft, which is by all accounts stronger than this years was.
we may be good enough to win the division with the team we have right now, but does anybody truly believe we’ll be able to do anything in the playoffs once we get there? any team can get hot in the playoffs and do some damage, but we can’t count on a hot streak to be successful (see 2006). so far, consistency has done a masterful job eluding us.
the dodgers either need to crap or get off the pot with the laroche/dewitt situation. platooning a couple of guys in their early 20’s who are chomping at the bit for playing time is idiotic. let laroche play everyday and prove himself or trade him to an organization that appreciates his talent and will give him a shot. i really feel bad for him.
anyway we slice it, this team is simply not good enough. i’m a huge supporter of the youth movement, but our guys still need another 4-5 years before they’re all in their prime and are producing at the levels they are capable of. there will definitely be flashes of brilliance here and there, great plays, and clutch at-bats sprinkled in, but we need to remember these guys are just getting started and will take their lumps like everybody else.
with that said, mccourt should really look into hiring a capable GM who isn’t teetering on the brink of mental retardation and has a clear-cut direction for this team.

yarrum,
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First a suggestion. When you write long posts, break them up a little more. People have a tendency to skip past large chunks on blogsites.
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I think it’s a little misleading to present “Juan Pierre production” in the form of his .718 lifetime OPS considering that his 2008 OPS is .645 (.689 OPS in ’07).
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As to Casey Blake, he’s a 34-year-old mediocrity whose 2nd-half lifetime OPS is 48 points lower than his 1st-half lifetime OPS. There is little reason to believe that Blake will be noticeably better than LaWittaparra in the second half of this year. Here are Blake’s lifetime splits: http://www.baseball-reference.com/pi/bsplit.cgi?n1=blakeca01&year=c

No matter how close the 3B production is or isn’t to Pierre’s, the fact remains that a .720 OPS from 3B is not going to cut it for a team with playoff aspirations – unless they have huge bats elsewhere. I’m with yarrum that the time has come for Andy LaRoche to get his extended shot at the job, similar to the one Blake DeWitt already had.
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And I’m with mlk on Casey Blake – he actually turns 35 soon – who is the quintessential average MLB hitter. That is not a good acquisition for a sub-.500 team, playoff-contender or not. For the Dodgers, only a huge 3B upgrade makes sense, and a guy like that is not available (I don’t think). The needed upgrade may simply come from playing LaRoche every day. The Dodgers need power and he might supply it.

jnv – I am down in San Diego now – going to Padres/Braves game tomorrow just to say I’ve been to Petco. Get to see Peavy pitch against somebody other than us. Sorry to hear about fires – I couldn’t tell if the news down here was just exaggerating about just north of Sac, but I guess they were right. Is it bad in Tahoe area, too? – eric’s up there still, I believe. Be safe upper there! 🙂

jnv – I am down in San Diego now – going to Padres/Braves game tomorrow just to say I’ve been to Petco. Get to see Peavy pitch against somebody other than us. Sorry to hear about fires – I couldn’t tell if the news down here was just exaggerating about just north of Sac, but I guess they were right. Is it bad in Tahoe area, too? – eric’s up there still, I believe. Be safe upper there! 🙂

I would agree that we need to give LaRoche some playing time in order to determine whether he’s ready for the major league level. Just putting him in against left-handers doesn’t do much for Andy or Blake – it will just reinforce the idea that one won’t be able to hit right-handers and the other left-handers like a self-fulfilling prophecy. I would not have done it while Blake was hot, but since he’s cooled off, I think it’s time to see Andy for a couple of series at least.

I put my chips on DeWitt. Good defense, good contact hitter, heady player. I’m not down on LaRoche, just feel DeWitt is a better career player. Doesn’t mean LaRoche couldn’t play 2nd base full time. But for whatever reason, a dark little cloud seems to follow LaRoche. He just can’t seem to the seize the few moments given to him. And Torre, Mr. “I Love Vets,” is probably his worst nightmare.

joanrich – because Lowe was throwing a one-hit shutout at that point and had a low pitch count. He would have finished the eighth if he hadn’t either 1. given up the solo HR, or 2. walked the 8th place hitter (his last batter).

puppyhead–“It breaks your heart. It is designed to break your heart. The game begins in the spring when everything else begins again, and it blossoms in the summer, filling the afternoons and evenings, and then as soon as the chill rains come, it stops and leaves you to face the fall alone.”
–A. Bartlett Giamatti

Dnel,
Enjoy San Diego, it is beautiful down there. It’s to bad they have a crappy BBall team!!🙂
Yes Eric is up in Tahoe and it’s not to nice up there either, We are leaving on Sunday to go up there and they are supposed to have Thunder storms which should clear the air I hope. (crossing fingers)

jnv – sorry for double post. Sometimes I can’t tell if it’s gone through, and I haven’t been checking too often. Take care up there – it is beautiful here. My husband said the valley is just brutally hot, and with the bad air quality, it’s making it worse. He said you guys up there are a lot worse off because of the smoke issues. It’s been all over the news – yuck!
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leefink – AWESOME POST!
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MLK – Thanks for your insights on Kemp – I think Mattingly will do great things with him, and I promise to never think about touching anything Yankee, or Gnat for that matter, again. That’s the second thing I did wrong this trip. The first thing is a long story and I am a little embarrassed to admit, plus the guilt factor involved. I will eventually tell but not yet – lol!

There has been a lot of Coletti bashing but the fact remains we are a game out of first and last year we were in the hunt until the end; he has not exhibited panic by dealing away the future for the immediate gratification of the present.

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